News

01.21.2021

Sheppard Mullin’s Corporate practice has been busy closing a variety of deals and transactions over the past few months:

Financings

• Represented Micro Quality Labs, LLC ("MQL") in the sale of its equity interests to an affiliate of Certified Laboratories, Inc.  MQL is a privately-held, California-based company that specializes in providing analytical testing services for the cosmetics, personal care, nutritional and pharmaceutical industries.  Consideration for the transaction included cash and rollover equity.   The deal was signed on a highly-accelerated schedule.  Prior to the closing, Sheppard Mullin worked closely with the equityholders of MQL to put in place new lease agreements with respect to MQL’s premises and to carry out a complex internal restructuring. The Sheppard Mullin team was led by partners Larry Braun and Jennifer Lee and included associates Ed Xia, Jon Freedman and Josh Demple.  Michael Leake, Rob Bello, Frank Dworak, John Crisp, Bijal Vira, Joe Rebello, Leo Caseria and many other Sheppard Mullin attorneys provided invaluable assistance. (October 30)

Private Equity

• Represented Atlanta, Georgia-based CodeMettle, LLC in its sale to J.F. Lehman & Company (“JFLCO”), a leading middle-market private equity firm in the aerospace, defense, maritime, government and environmental sectors. CodeMettle provides custom software development and proprietary software solutions for the management of critical communication networks.  The Sheppard Mullin team was led by partner Shon Glusky and included special counsel Carol Archer and associate Amanda Ackerman. Partners Michael Chan, Dmitriy Chelnitsky, Judith Fiorini, Keith Szeliga and Alexis Robinson; special counsel Sean Kirby; associates Brian Egan, Richard Hevier, and Michael Weisshar; and attorney Shane Killeen provided invaluable assistance. (December 9)
• Represented Milestone Technologies, Inc., a portfolio company of the private equity firm H.I.G. Capital, in its acquisition of Covestic, Inc., a ServiceNow Elite Partner and IT Managed Services firm, based in Kirkland, WA.  The deal team was led by partner Aytan Dahukey, with partner Frank Dworak and associates Vinay Bhupathy, Keren Baruch and Taylor Ashton.  The firm-wide effort included special assistance from partners Peter Carson, Kevin Cloutier, Shawn Fabian, Michael Orlando, Michael Chan, Liisa Thomas and Greg Schick, and associates Nicole Danesh, Dhara Waghela, Ethan Aronson, Michael Weisshar, Robert Bello and Julie Kadish (January 7).

Mergers & Acquisitions

• Represented Snak-King Corporation in the acquisition of certain assets related to the Vitner’s brand, a leading brand of snack foods in the Chicago metropolitan market, by Utz Brands.  The Sheppard Mullin team was led by partner Larry Braun and special counsel Chris Froelich and included partners Carlo Van den Bosch, Frank Dworak, and Michael Chan; and associate Andrea Ramos. (January 11)
• Represented Allied Universal, a leading security and facility services company in North America, in  its acquisition of SecurAmerica, a privately held, Atlanta, Georgia-based security company with 49 offices located throughout the United States. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Sheppard Mullin team was led by partner Steve LaSala and senior associate Daniel Belzer and included associates Lyle LeBlang and Taylor Holmes. (January 20)
• Represented Fishawack, a global healthcare communications group, in the acquisition of Media Productions, Inc. d/b/a StoneArch Creative, a marketing company focused on the health and medical industries.  This is fourth acquisition the firm has guided Fishawack through in the last 18 months.  The deal team was led by partner Jamie Mercer and associates Lyle LeBlang and Andrea Ramos.  Invaluable assistance was provided by partners Michael Chan, Peter Carson, Kevin Cloutier, Frank Dworak, Shawn Fabian, Claudia Hinsch, and Lisa Martens, and associates John Crisp, Gazal Pour-Moezzi, Seth Lemings, Mikela Sutrina, John Swinney and Michael Weisshar. (December 30)

Public Offerings

• Represented Hepion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: HEPA), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on Artificial Intelligence-driven therapeutic drug development for the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and liver disease, in its $34.5 million (with over-allotment) follow-on public offering. The Sheppard Mullin team included partner Jeff Fessler and associate Justin Anslow. Partner Jing Liu assisted on IP matters. (November 30)
• Advised WestPark Capital, Inc. and WallchBeth Capital, LLC, the joint book-running managers in connection with a $5.7 million public offering of common stock and warrants of Lixte Biotechnology Holdings, Inc. Lixte Biotechnology Holdings, Inc. is a drug discovery company that uses biomarker technology to identify enzyme targets associated with cancer and other serious common diseases and then designs novel compounds to attack those targets.  The Sheppard Mullin deal team was led by partners Richard Friedman and Stephen Cohen and included associate Taylor Ashton. Special assistance was provided by partners Jing Liu and Allison Fulton and associate Paul Chang. (December 1)
• Represented Greenwich LifeSciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: GLSI), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of GP2, an immunotherapy to prevent breast cancer recurrences in patients who have previously undergone surgery, in its $26.4 million follow-on public offering. The Sheppard Mullin deal team was led by partner Jeff Fessler and associate Nazia Khan. (December 22)
• Advised the underwriter in connection with a $15 million registered direct offering of common stock of Jaguar Health, Inc., (NASDAQ: JAGX) a commercial stage pharmaceuticals company focused on developing novel, plant-based, non-opioid, and sustainably derived prescription medicines for people and animals with GI distress. The Sheppard Mullin corporate team included partner Richard Friedman and associate Justin Anslow. (January 13)
• Represented the underwriter in connection with a $14.4 million public offering of common stock of Evoke Pharma, Inc., (Nasdaq: EVOK) a specialty pharmaceutical company focused primarily on the commercialization and development of drugs to treat GI disorders and diseases. The Sheppard Mullin corporate team included partner Richard Friedman and associates Nazia Khan and Brett Uslaner. Special assistance was provided by partners Allison Fulton and Jing Liu and associate Paul Chang. (January 20)
• Advised Genprex, Inc. (NASDAQ: GNPX), a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing life-changing therapies for patients with cancer and diabetes, in connection with a $12 million registered direct offering. The deal team was led by partner Richard Friedman with associate Nazia Khan. (December 24)v